History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c., Part 29

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968

USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c. > Part 29

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To-day, Ohio stands in the van of the Western States in agriculture and all its kindred associa- tions. It only needs the active energy of her citizens to keep her in this place, advancing as time advances, until the goal of her ambition is reached.

CHAPTER XVI.

CLIMATOLOGY-OUTLINE-VARIATION IN OHIO-ESTIMATE IN DEGREES-RAINFALL-AMOUNT -VARIABILITY.

T THE climate of Ohio varies about four degrees. Though originally liable to malaria in many districts when first settled, in consequence of a dense vegetation induced by summer heats and rains, it has became very healthful, owing to clear- ing away this vegetation, and proper drainage. The State has became as favorable in its sanitary char- acteristies as any other in its locality. Ohio is re- markable for its high productive capacity, almost every thing grown in the temperate climates being within its range. Its extremes of heat and cold are less than almost any other State in or near the same latitude, hence Ohio suffers less from the ex- treme dry or wet seasons which affect all adjoining States. These modifications are mainly due to the influence of the Lake Erie waters. These not

only modify the heat of summer and the cold of winter, but apparently reduce the profusion of rainfall in summer, and favor moisture in dry pe- riods. No finer climate exists, all conditions consid- ered, for delicate vegetable growths, than that por- tion of Ohio bordering on Lake Erie. This is abundantly attested by the recent extensive devel- opment there of grape culture.

Mr. Lorin Blodget, author of "American Clima- tology." in the agricultural report of 1853. says; "A district bordering on the Southern and West- ern portions of Lake Erie is more favorable in this respect (grape cultivation ) than any other on the Atlantic side of the Rocky Mountains, and it will ultimately prove capable of a very liberal extension of vine culture."

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HISTORY OF OHIO.

Experience has proven Mr. Blodget correct in his theory. Now extensive fields of grapes are everywhere found on the Lake Erie Slope, while other small fruits find a sure footing on its soil.

" Considering the climate of Ohio by isother- mal lines and rain shadings, it must be borne in mind," says Mr. Blodget, in his description of Ohio's climate, from which these facts are drawn, " that local influences often require to be considered. At the South, from Cincinnati to Steubenville, the deep river valleys are two degrees warmer than the hilly districts of the same vicinity. The lines are drawn intermediate between the two extremes. Thus, Cincinnati, on the plain, is 2º warmer than at the Observatory, and 4º warmer for each year than Hillsboro, Highland County-the one being 500, the other 1,000, feet above sea-level. The immediate valley of the Ohio, from Cincinnati to Gallipolis, is about 75° for the summer, and 54° for the year; while the adjacent hilly districts, 300 to 500 feet higher, are not above 73° and 52° respectively. For the summer, generally, the river valleys are 73° to 75° ; the level and central portions 72° to 73°, and the lake border 70° to 72°. A peculiar mildness of climate belongs to the vicinity of Kelley's Island, Sandusky and Toledo. Here, both winter and summer, the cli- inate is 2° warmer than on the highland ridge ex- tending from Norwalk and Oberlin to Hudson and the northeastern border. This ridge varies from 500 to 750 feet above the lake, or 850 to 1,200 feet above sea level. This high belt has a summer temperature of 70°, 27° for the winter, and 49° for the year; while at Sandusky and Kelley's Island the summer is 72°, the winter 29º, and the year 50°. In the central and eastern parts of the State, the winters are comparatively cold, the average falling to 32° over the more level districts, and to 29° on the highlands. The Ohio River valley is about 35°, but the highlands near it fall to 31° and 32° for the winter."

As early as 1824, several persons in the State began taking the temperature in their respective localities, for the spring, summer, autumn and win- ter, averaging them for the entire year. From time to time, these were gathered and published, inducing others to take a step in the same direction. Not long since, a general table, from about forty local-

ities, was gathered and compiled, covering a period of more than a quarter of a century. This table, when averaged, showed an average temperature of 52.4°, an evenness of temperature not equaled in many bordering States.

Very imperfect observations have been made of the amount of rainfall in the State. Until lately, only an individual here and there through- out the State took enough interest in this matter to faithfully observe and record the averages of several years in succession. In consequence of this fact, the illustration of that feature of Ohio's climate is less satisfactory than that of the temperature. "The actual rainfall of different months and years varies greatly," says Mr. Blod- get. "There may be more in a month, and, again, the quantity may rise to 12 or 15 inches in a single month. For a year, the variation may be from a minimum of 22 or 25 inches, to a maxi- mum of 50 or even 60 inches in the southern part of the State, and 45 to 48 inches along the lake border. The average is a fixed quantity, and, although requiring a period of twenty or twenty- five years to fix it absolutely, it is entirely certain and unchangeable when known. On charts, these average quantities are represented by depths of shading. At Cincinnati, the last fifteen years of observation somewhat reduce the average of 48 inches, of former years, to 46 or 47 inches."

Spring and summer generally give the most rain, there being, in general, 10 to 12 inches in the spring, 10 to 14 inches in the summer, and 8 to 10 inches in the autumn. The winter is the most variable of all the seasons, the southern part of the State having 10 inches, and the northern part 7 inches or less-an average of 8 or 9 inches,

The charts of rainfall, compiled for the State, show a fall of 30 inches on the lake, and 46 inches at the Ohio River. Between these two points, the fall is marked, beginning at the north, 32, 34, 36 and 38 inches, all near the lake. Farther down, in the latitude of Tuscarawas, Monroe and Mercer Counties, the fall is 40 inches, while the south- western part is 42 and 44 inches.

The clearing away of forests, the drainage of the land, and other causes, have lessened the rain- fall, making considerable difference since the days of the aborigines.

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James Johnson

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

CHAPTER XVII.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

THE DIVIDE-WATER COURSES-SOIL-SURFACE DEPOSITS-GOLD-IRON ORE-GEOLOGICAL STRICTURE- ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.

SURVEY OF 1878, BY M. C. READ.

In the beginning, the Lord made the heaven and the earth.

R ICHILAND COUNTY is situated on the highest part of the divide between the waters of Lake Erie and the Ohio River. The surface on the north is comparatively level, but rises toward the south to the height, in places. of nearly one thousand feet above the lake. In the southeast part of the county there are chains of high hills, separated by narrow val- leys, and exhibiting almost a mountainous character. The Black Fork of the Mohican River rises in the north part of the county, and, passing through the townships of Blooming Grove. Franklin, Weller, Mifflin and Monroe, and thence into Ashland County, flows in a deep channel which connects on the north with the channels of drainage into the lake. A similar channel, having a similar northern connection, passes a little west of Mansfield, and, now filled with silt and gravel, forms the bed of Owl Creek. Between these valleys the hills rise in irregular chains, often quite abruptly, and in the southern and southwestern parts of the county to an elevation of from 200 to 500 feet above the valleys. In Jefferson Township a long " chest- nut ridge." traversed by the road leading west from Independence, reaches an elevation of

450 feet above the railroad at Independence. On the geologist's table of elevations this rail- road station is given as 659 feet, but he sus- pects this to be excessive. If correct, the elevation of the ridge is 1,059 feet above the lake, and is one of the highest points in the State. Two and a half miles northeast of Bell- ville, and near the north line of Jefferson Town- ship, the hills reach an elevation of 952 feet above the lake. About two miles north, and on the direct road to Mansfield, the surface rises rapidly to an elevation of 912 feet. and at three and a half miles, the summit between Bellville and Mansfield is 932 feet above the lake, or 370 feet above Mansfield .* The descent from the top of this divide is much more gradual to the north than to the south, a characteristic of all parts of the water-shed in this neighborhood. The highest points to the north and toward Mansfield are, by the barometer, 320 feet. 300 feet. 190 feet. etc., above Mansfield. About seven miles west of the city. and near the western line of the county. is an isolated knob, which is designated by

* The height of Mansfield above the lake is, on the profile of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, 581 feet; on the profile of the Sandusky & Mansfield Railroad, 657 feet ; on the profile of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad, 592 feet; part of the difference being due to the different elevations of the localities passed by the railroads in the city.

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

residents in the vicinity as the highest land in the county and State. It is, however, by the barometer, only 240 feet above Mansfield, or 832 feet above the lake, while two and a half miles further cast the surface rises by a more gentle inclination 30 feet higher.

Noil .- The soil over the greater part of Rich- land County rests upon the unmodified drift clays, and takes its general character from them. It contains a large quantity of lime. derived mainly from the corniferous limestone, frag- ments of which are everywhere mingled with the drift. The clay in the soil is also modified and tempered by the debris of the local rocks, which is largely mingled with the drift, and is mostly siliceous. This character, combined with a high elevation and thorough surface drain- age, furnishes a soil which renders the name of the county appropriate. and secures a great variety of agricultural products.

While all parts of the county are well adapted to grazing. the land is especially fitted for the growth of wheat and other cereals, and to the production of fruit. The profusion of rock fragments in the drift renders the soil pervious to water, and prevents washing. even in the steepest hills.

In the southeastern part of the county the higher hills are. in places, capped with a coarse ferruginous conglomerate, and are so covered with its debris as not to be susceptible of til- lage. Nature has designated a use to which these sand-rock hills should be appropriated, as they are generally covered with a dense sec- ond growth of chestnut. This timber prefers a soil filled with fragments of sand-rock, and the second growth is almost as valuable as red cedar for fence posts and other similar purposes. If upon all similar rocky hills the inferior kinds of timber and the useless undergrowth were cut away, and the growth of the chestnut en- couraged. these now worthless hilltops woukl yield an annual harvest scarcely less valuable than that of the most fertile valleys. On the

north side of the divide, the slopes of the hills are covered by the debris of the local rocks. and the soil is much less productive.

Surface Deposits .- The greater part of the county is covered by a thick deposit of unmodi- fied bowlder clay, which, in many of the north- ern townships. conceals from view all the under- lying rocks. Except upon the margins of the streams, this bowlder clay, which is often very thick, is wholly unstratified. The clay near the surface is yellow; at the bottom, blue. Granitic bowlders and pebbles, and fragments of the local, rocks are very abundant through the whole mass. In some places the line between the yellow and blue clay is sharply defined, but. aside from the difference in color, there is no distinction, ex- cept that the yellow is fissured by vertical. hor- izontal and oblique seams, through which the water readily percolates, while the blue is gen- erally impervious to it. On this account, springs frequently mark the junction of these clays. Many of them, however, which afforded an abundant supply of water when the country was first settled, have dried up. This is no in- dication of a diminished rainfall. but may be explained partly by the more rapid surface drainage, resulting from the removal of the forest, and partly by the deeper oxidization of the bowlder clay. which renders it porous. and depresses the junction between the yellow and bhie clays, so as to change the line of drainage, or, from the deeper fissures of the clay, the water-bearing horizon has been car- ried below the outlets of the old springs.

The hard granitic and metamorphic bowlders and pebbles of this drift are well worn. and often striated with great uniformity along their greatest diameter. On the contrary, the soft and friable debris of the local rocks on the top of the hills is neither water-worn nor striated. The fragments are often as angular as if just broken up in a quarry. Away from the water- courses the surface of the land is undulating, consisting of irregular ridges with frequent

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

depressions and cavities having no outlet, and indicating that the present contour of the sur- face is not the result of recent erosion. The surface drainage is now filling up and obliterat- ing these cavities, some of which are still swamps, and generally the wash from the hills is carrying the silt and humus into these de- pressions, so that surface erosion is steadily diminishing instead of increasing these inequal- ities. Over large areas the clay includes such an abundance of rock fragments that, wherever surface erosion is facilitated down the slopes of the hills by road-making or otherwise, the wash is arrested as soon as a shallow channel is formed by the accumulation of rock fragments on the surface. If erosion by rainfall excavated the depressions and ravines, the water would have had force sufficient only to carry away the clay. sand. and finer gravels, and the surface would now be covered with bowlders and fragments of rocks, but such a condition of the surface is nowhere found. A comparatively few isolated bowlders are scattered over the surface as though dropped upon it. In the deeper ravines, which should be filled with a mass of these bowlders, they are very rarely found, and are no more abundant upon the slopes than upon the tops of the hills.

On the margins of the streams there is fre- quently at the bottom a deposit of laminated or finely stratified clay, with rudely stratified gravel and bowlders above. The fragments of the local rocks are here rounded and globular ; no striated granitie fragments are found. In places, all the fragments of the local rocks are ground to powder, and, with all the clay and finer gravels of the drift, have been washed away, leaving only coarse, well-rounded gran- itic pebbles. with occasional bowlders of the corniferous limestone. In this material, also. cavities are occasionally found having no out- lets, the character of the underlying rocks. and the form of the surface, indicating that they are not properly sink-holes, such as are often found

in limestone regions. A little east of the rail- road station at Lexington, two such cavities are quite conspicuous. They are on a long bil- lowy ridge, filled with coarse gravel and bowl- ders, and covered with a forest of hard maple. In the deepest cavity the depression is twenty- five feet, in the other fifteen feet. The slopes in each are smooth, without rock fragments, and covered with the native forest trees. In both there is an accumulation of humus at the bottom. and the deeper one contains a little water. They afford a ready explanation of the origin of the small ponds having no outlet, found in other places along this divide, with dead forest trees standing in the water. In the original cavity the drainage through the porous bottom was free. and the forests occupied the bottom and the slopes. The wash of the slopes and the fine material of the decomposed vegetation gradually accumulated in the gravelly bottom. which, like a filter long used, gradually be- came impervious to the water, which encroached more and more upon the vegetation, ultimately destroying it, and the dry cavity became a pond. The accumulation of vegetable debris, and the growth of water plants upon the mar- gin, will finally convert the pond into a marsh. which in the end will be filled up and obliterated.

To account for the facts exhibited in the pro- file of Richland County, an agency is required which shall bring from their home in the far north the granitic bowlders and pebbles. the cornifer- ous limestone, and other hard rocks interven- ing; shall pulverize to elay the soft, argil- .laceous rocks; shall leave the hard rocks brought in from the north rounded and striated ; shall mingle all this material intimately with the debris of the friable local rocks. which are neither water-worn nor striated, but are sharp. angular fragments; and leave the whole entirely unassorted upon the high lands in undulating ridges, but upon the margins of the streams often washing away all the finer material. wear- ing to a sand the debris of the soft local rocks.

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

assorting and depositing in different places the materials having different specifie gravities. The question, what that agent probably was, will be discussed when other facts bearing upon its full solution shall be accumulated.

Gold .- One of the most interesting surface deposits of the county, and one intimately con- nected with the discussion of the drift, is the gold found about Bellville and other places in the southern part of Richland County. The origin of the gold has been attributed to an ancient drift agency, which brought in the peb- bles of the Waverly conglomerate: but the geologist is quite confident that it should be referred to the surface drift. and was brought in by the same agency that transported the granitic bowlders and pebbles. If referred to the Waverly conglomerate, it should be found at the base of this deposit. It is, in fact, found most abundantly about the level of its upper surface, and in perceptible quantities on the slopes of the hills fifty to one hundred feet above it. If it came from the Waverly con- glomerate, it should be the most abundant where the quartz pebbles of this conglomerate are the most numerous, while at Bellville and the immediate neighborhood this Waverly rock is comparatively free from pebbles. The gold is found in minute flakes. associated with black sand (magnetie iron ore). small garnets, and fragments of quartz. It is most abundant at the mouth of gorges opening to the south. ris- ing rather rapidly toward the north, terminating in various branches, which start from the top of the hills two or three hundred feet high. On the table-land above, large quartz bowlders are occasionally seen, and angular fragments of quartz are abundantly obtained in washing for gold. Pieces of native copper are also found, some of them of considerable size. occasionally copper ore, and. very rarely. minute quantities of native silver. In the stone quarry near Bellville an angular and partly decomposed fragment of quartz was picked up. containing

what the miners call "wire gold." interlaced through it. It had evidently fallen from the gravel bed at the top of the quarry. which con- tained quartz fragments. mingled with other erratics. The most plansible theory of the origin of the gold is, that the transposing agen- cies which brought in and deposited the surface drift, passed over veins of gold-bearing quartz. which were crushed, broken up. and transported with the other foreign material, and scattered along a line extending through Richland, Knox, and Licking Counties. Over what is now the southern slope of the divide between the waters of the lake and the Ohio, a thick deposit of the drift has been washed away, the fragments of the quartz broken up and disintegrated, the gold of the drift concentrated probably a hun- dred thousand fold, so that in these protected coves the " color" of gold can be obtained from almost every panful of earth. The first dis- covery of this fact caused much local excite- ment, and experienced miners and others pros- pected the whole region in the confident expectation that these indications would lead to rich placer mining. One returned California miner spent the whole of one summer and fall prospecting, part of the time with one, and the rest with three, hired assistants. The gross amount of gold obtained was between twenty- five and thirty dollars. In the richest localities about one dollar per day can be obtained by steady work. As no gold-bearing rocks are to be found in the State, the occurrence of gold here can have only a scientific interest con- nected with the theories of the drift.

Iron Ore .- The rocks of Richland County include a few deposits of iron ore, generally of little value, and the surface accumulations of this mineral are rare. In Plymouth Township, on a small stream near the center, and west of the railroad, is quite an extensive bed of hy- (rated oxide of iron, containing large masses of calcareous tufa. No spring of water is appar- ent which could deposit these minerals, and

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

they probably indicate the bed of an old shal- low swamp, now five or six feet above the pres- ent channel of the adjacent stream. The stratum is from two to three feet in thickness, but not of sufficient extent to be of any great value.

Geological Structure .- The geological struct- ure of Richland County is easily read, and has little variety. No single exposure discloses all the rocks of the series, and as the dip is often quite considerable, and is without uni- formity, the measurements of the different strata are only approximations. The subjoined section is the result of many observations and measurements. and will illustrate the general character of the geological structure:

Carboniferous conglomerate. 8 to 20 feet

Argillaceous and siliceous shales 170 to 250 feet

Waverly conglomerate. 100 to 190 feet Argillaceous and sandy shales, some- times bituminous 65 feet

Shales with bands of flaggy sandstone ... 235 feet Berea sandstone ..

The highest hills in the northeastern parts of the county are capped with the carboniferous conglomerate, which is, in general, quite thin, rarely attaining a thickness of twenty feet. It frequently contains fragments of chert, and a large quantity of iron ore. In many places it is a siliceous iron ore, and would be valuable if there were a local demand for it. This conglom- erate contains, in many places, a great profusion of calamites-lepidodendra, sigillaria, etc.

Below this is a series of shales correspond- ing to the Cuyahoga shales of the northeastern counties, in part argillaceous, with fragments of crinoids and nodules of iron ore ; and, in part, siliceous, containing the ordinary sub-carbon- iferous fossils. The transition is here apparent through which the varied strata composing the Cuyahoga shales pass in going southward into the homogeneous, sandy, olive shales of the Waverly; and this member of the series is much more siliceous than it is further north. It varies much in thickness, ranging from 110 to

200 feet, and over. In places, the lower part of it becomes massive, and not distinguishable from the Waverly conglomerate upon which it rests. Nowhere in it were minerals of any economic value observed.

The Waverly conglomerate is the character- istic rock formation of the county, and, from its lithological character in many places, it might readily be mistaken for the ordinary carbon- iferous conglomerate, but its horizon can be definitely traced at a varying distance of from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet be- low the true conglomerate, and upon careful study can everywhere be readily distinguished from it. It is generally more thoroughly and evenly stratified than the carboniferous con- glomerate, the pebbles are usually smaller ; the grains of sand forming the mass of rock are mostly globular and transparent. When col- ored by iron it is oftener in regular bands or layers. as the result of more perfect stratifica- tion, and pebbles and grains of jasper are more abundant. The distinction between it and the carboniferous conglomerate of this immediate neighborhood is still more marked. The latter is quite coarse, containing large pebbles, some of them but little rounded fragments of fos- siliferous, cherty limestone, and many coal plants, including sigillaria, calamites, lepido- dendra, cordaites, etc. The plants of the Waverly conglomerate are mainly fucoids. The iron in the latter, shown only by the color of the rock, is magnetic, preventing the use of the compass in the vicinity of its massive out- crops.

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Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 968

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968